Soldiers
by 14AmyChan
Summary: Sequel to "And Now To The Weather". what happened to Phineas while he was out of contact with Isabella? What happened to his leg? why was he so worried she wouldn't love him anymore? read this and find out! WARNING! OCs! T for violence lots of and sadness and death, just a warning
1. Going Down!

_**14AmyChan: Okay, so I don't own anything**_

_**Phineas: what is this?**_

_**14AmyChan: If any of you have read "And Now To The Weather", this is what was going on on Phineas' side of things. Be warned, this isn't a oneshot**_

_**Phineas: She doesn't own me**_

_**14AmyChan: but I do own Alex, Miguel, and Brandon, so no stealy! Enjoy~! *^_^***_

**Day 1**

The red light blinked rapidly, alerting him that a problem had arisen in the engine room. Deciding to hurry to fix the problem, Head Engineer Phineas Flynn made his way to the aforementioned room. He maneuvered around important cargo, shimmied his way past good soldiers, and met half of his team in the place where the trouble was happening.

"Sir, the engines are failing" one of his team members, Alex, stated. Alexander Raid was a highly skilled technician who had come from a different section of Danville than Phineas had. His specialty was rapid calculations under pressure. Phineas felt he could trust this man to find every probability and possibility out in the world. Yet this man was not without family. He had a wife and small daughter waiting for him back home. The thought always made Phineas smile. It made him think of what, or more specifically _who_, was waiting for him back home. "The way things are going, we should be crashing in about ten minutes."

"Miguel?" Phineas asked, hoping the fellow Danvillian would be able to give him some options. Miguel Seta was a realistic thinker who was quick with his hands. He could find several ways out of any tight spot, and this specialty made him perfect for Phineas' team. The two of them together had made their technician team the most likely to get out of any situation alive.

"It looks like a few of the wires were cut loose" Miguel stated, already working on the problem. Phineas observed as the man rapidly attached wires together with aluminum foil, and then surrounded the metal with some rubber bands. "We should be able to keep her airborne for a few more minutes, but this patch job isn't going to keep her running for very long, tell the pilot—"

"Sir!" Brandon Forest burst into the room, his normally expressionless face showing few signs of worry. That in itself caused Phineas' stomach to churn. Brandon never showed emotion unless the situation was extreme. "One of the propellers is out; we need to get everyone out of the plane!"

"How many chutes do we have?" Phineas asked, intently serious. There were about sixty four good men and women on this plane, and he would do anything to keep them all safe.

"There's fifty five, sir" Brandon stated, having already checked.

"Alex, how much time do we have?" Phineas asked, already on his way to the front to notify the pilot of the imperative need to evacuate the plane.

"Two minutes!" Alex called after the team captain as he made his way to the front of the plane. Phineas rushed to the front, telling the soldiers to prepare for evacuation on the way. As soon as he was to the front, Phineas found the pilot struggling to keep his plane airborne.

"Sir, we're going to crash" Phineas informed him. "Everyone needs to get out of the plane!"

"Then get everyone out!" the pilot commanded. Phineas saluted the man before running back to the area where everyone sat, many had a parachute and those that didn't had found someone to partner up with who did.

"Time to get out!" Phineas ordered as he went to the side door and pulled it open. "This is not a drill, let's go, go, go!" As Phineas ushered the men and women out of the plane, he was grateful that they did not seem to be too far away from civilization. He was also grateful that some of the soldiers had paired off and shared parachutes.

Phineas watched as some of the last men flew out of the plane and made their way to safety. Turning around, he saw Alex, Brandon, and Miguel still trying to salvage the engine. Yet just as soon as the man went to help his team, the engine started to leak a vital fluid. Oil. Phineas watched in horror as the oil overheated and burst into flames. His body moved on its own. He grabbed the two closest men he could and jerked them out. As soon as Miguel and Brandon were out of the flames, Phineas' hand reached back into the fire. The flames bit and tore at his flesh, but Phineas didn't care. He wanted everyone in his team to be safe. Soon, his hand felt something. Quickly, he pulled out his last team member. Alex seemed to be severely burnt, but if they didn't move, then worse was going to happen to the rest of them. Phineas glanced around and instantly noticed three parachutes.

"You guys use these two" Phineas ordered as he rushed the third parachute to the cockpit of the plane. "Get out of here now!" he commanded before they asked any questions. Yet two weeks of working with this man and they all knew where he was going. He was going to get the pilot out alive if he could.

Coughing and spluttering just like the plane he was in, Phineas squinted his eyes against the blinding smoke as he made his way to the front of the plane. He was surprised that it was still level in the shape it was in. In a matter of half a minute, Phineas had made his way to the cockpit of the plane and proceeded to open it. The pilot was still there, rapidly using the controls and working the plane to keep it level. Phineas stepped behind the man and addressed him.

"Everyone's out of the plane, sir. It's time for you to come, too" he stated, knowing he had less than twenty seconds to get this man to come. Willing or resisting, this man would live if there was anything Phineas Flynn could do about it.

"That was quick" the man murmured as he continued to operate the plane. Phineas stood next to the man.

"We need to get out of here, now" he tried to stress the importance of this matter. If this pilot didn't come, then he would be dead. And that was something Phineas did _not_ like. It was something that _wouldn't_ happen on his watch.

"I am not—" the pilot started before he was jerked up by Phineas. The man was forced to look at Phineas' determined fiery eyes.

"Going to live?" Phineas asked, his stare keeping the pilot as silent as a graveyard. "Yes you are" he disagreed as he dragged the pilot out of the cockpit and hurried to escape from the fiery plane. As quickly as he could, he made his way to the open door where he'd left his men. Yet to his complete surprise, not one of his men had moved from their spots.

"Took you long enough" Miguel said as he grabbed Alex and threw himself out of the plane, parachute in tow. Phineas watched in shock as the men safely made it to the forested ground. _How did we end up so far away from that town?_ Phineas thought before he was brought back to reality by the pilot being pulled from his hands. Turning, he saw that Brandon had grabbed the pilot and was now at the door of the plane.

"The plane is still crashing, you know" the man said as he lunged out of the door, pilot in tow. Phineas shook his head and then followed suit. He followed Miguel, Alex, Brandon, and the pilot to the ground.

Almost all of them touched down on the densely forested ground. All except for Phineas, who happened to be the only one whose parachute snagged itself in a tree. The four men turned and stared at the head engineer, who could only offer a sheepish smile in return as he unfastened himself so he could come down to the ground. However, one misplaced step caused the usually agile engineer to careen to the ground with a sickening _crack!_

_**14AmyChan: so, love it? Hate it? I wanna know what ya'll think here~! *^_^***_

_**Alex: Read and review!**_

_**Miguel: You know you want to!**_

_**Brandon: Please.**_

_**Phineas: see you next time~!**_

_**14AmyChan: Yeah, I own the pilot, too. *^_^***_


	2. Meet the Troop

_**14AmyChan: Okay, next chapter~! *^_^***_

_**Phineas: She doesn't own me**_

_**14AmyChan: But I own the storyline and a few of the characters**_

"Sir!" Brandon was the first to respond in helping the engineer on his feet. However, Phineas' legs would not cooperate. When he tried to stand on his own two feet, a searing pain shot up Phineas' left leg before collapsing beneath him. A sickening _crunch!_ alerted the man to news that he was not too keen on hearing.

"Your leg's broken" the pilot stated as he got up and dusted himself off. Phineas could not respond for a while because he was gritting his teeth at the pain, but that didn't stop his team from responding for him.

"_Your_ leg would be broken if _you_ fell from a thirty foot tall tree" Miguel pointed out as he assessed the damage on Alex. The twenty-five year old was covered in black soot, but the sight didn't deter the smell of slightly fried skin. The question was: how bad were the burns?

"How's Alex doing?" Phineas asked from where he was. Brandon had seated him up next to the tree he fell out of not a moment ago. Though he was still in a lot of pain, his team always came first. No matter what.

"We need to get some of this dirt off before we can figure that out" Miguel stated, effectively cutting off Alex, who was going to insist he was fine again, and the pilot, who obviously had something to say. He decided it wasn't worth listening to complaints. Instead, he simply watched as the head engineer pulled his parachute bag closer and reached inside.

"The only thing that fits in a parachute bag is a _parachute_" the pilot snapped before anyone could shut him up. "In some cases, the bag _is_ the parachute. That's its purp—"

"It's a good thing this isn't a normal parachute bag, then" Phineas' voice held slight pride as he withdrew a one of the standard Army's Improved First Aid Kit. An IFAK. "We're supposed to have these all the time, so I put it in my parachute bag," Phineas explained. "Miguel."

Just like that, the med pack flew from Phineas' hand over to Miguel. Literally _flew_. There was no throwing involved! The pilot watched as the pack made its way to Miguel's side. And the man simply reached inside for something. To the pilot's complete surprise, Miguel pulled a bundle of paper towels and a water bottle out of the bag. Without seeming to worry about water supply, he began to clean off Alex's skin, revealing bright pink blisters all over his arms and face.

"Looks like second degree burns, sir" Miguel reported as he continued to wipe off the dirt and soot from Alex's arms and face. Within a split second, the man's face began to contort in discomfort. Miguel let out a short puff of air. "Jeez, you're worse than my little brother" he complained, sending Phineas into a small fit of child like laughter. Brandon smiled a little while Alex simply grabbed the paper towel from Miguel's hands and began to remove the dirt himself. Miguel sat him upright before looking over to where Phineas and Brandon were.

"Though we should really do something about that leg of yours, Phineas" Miguel pointed out after a few seconds of continued laughter. That killed it. The supposed head of the team simply looked at his useless leg and realized that as time passed, his leg could be getting only worse. He realized the first thing they should do is try to set it.

"Do you have a cast in there, too?" the pilot asked. He was obviously sarcastic, but that meant he had a quick wit. If he were as smart and determined as he seemed bitter, then it would be obvious on how he made pilot.

"Do you have a name?" Phineas asked, choosing to ignore the jab, but get a word in before Miguel tried starting a fight. Though he was a good man, the guy could get annoyed easily. Phineas just hoped to get into the nearest civilization as soon as possible. He wanted everyone to know they were okay and he hoped he could go home now. He extended his hand in a civilized gesture.

"Pilot Eli Williams," the man replied as he gave clasped Phineas' hand firmly in his own. After a brief handshake, Eli extended his hand to the others, who shook his after slight hesitation.

"Miguel Seta," Miguel shook Eli's hand briefly. His eyes never lost their edgy glare. "I come up with survival ideas." Eli nodded once in acknowledgment before turning his gaze to the man next to him.

"Alexander Raid," Alex paused in removing soot from his arms to offer a clean hand to the pilot. As they shook hands, he continued with "I do all the calculating here, make sure ideas can work and stuff like that." Eli tipped his head before shifting his attention to his other side, where the other two sat.

"Brandon Forest," Brandon simply took Eli's hand in a firm grip before letting it go. "I do the heavy lifting and help him"—here he nodded to Phineas—"build everything." Eli simply stared for a minute before shifting his attention to the last man who had yet to introduce himself.

"Phineas Flynn," Phineas grinned. "I just try to keep the team together," his explanation was the most vague, sending Eli's warning flags up. Especially with what he'd already seen.

"So what do you do on the side? Invent?" Eli pressed, obviously unimpressed with Phineas' attitude. However, the man's smiling expression didn't falter, in fact, it only grew. Eli felt the amused stares of the other men on him, making him feel agitated. Yet he only continued to stare at Phineas.

"Yes, yes I do," the answer made the others laugh slightly. Yet the moment was soon ruined by the same one who had lifted their spirits a moment ago. A sharp intake of breath reminded everyone that Phineas' leg still needed to be set. However, the twenty year old tinkerer was already giving Brandon orders on what to find so they could set his leg. After about a minute of direction, the man left his side in pursuit of what he had been ordered to find.

A few silent minutes later, Brandon returned with two branches about as long as Phineas and as thick as the man's arm. Eli rolled his eyes. This wasn't the _movies_, after all. How could a couple of branches help to set the man's leg? Was he thinking of fashioning a splint?

Sure enough, the next thing the man did was split one of the branches in half and place the halves on either side of his leg. As soon as he was done with that, he nodded at Brandon before gritting his teeth and curling his hands around some roots of the tree he was sitting under. As soon as he was sure Phineas was ready, Brandon swiftly set the leg straight. Eli was appalled. How could the man be sure that everything had gone well? What if it caused complications for his leader?

"Here, Brandon" Miguel offered as he sent the IFAK back to Phineas' side. Brandon didn't wait for the pack to hit the ground before pulling out some bandages. Before he could open them, however, Phineas was shaking his head.

"Sir, we need to wrap the splint" Brandon insisted as he opened the package. As Phineas was reaching for his sleeve, the man caught him and stopped him short. "The medical supplies are for medical emergencies, and this qualifies. We have enough for you, Alex, and still have some left over, so don't start about rationing." Phineas put his hand and his head down as Brandon resumed finishing the splint.

"Besides, I'm already bandaged up" Alex called from across Eli. There was a certain sense of humor in his tone that made the pilot roll his eyes. They were in a serious situation here. With one man in second degree burns and another with a broken leg, the remaining three would have to pull a lot of weight to make sure everyone got through this ordeal alive. The pilot would help to make sure that no man got left behind, and that meant having every man realize the gravity of this situation.

"This isn't the time to be joking around, we have to find our way back to civilization," Eli stated. He mentally went over the situation again. "We need to figure out how we're going to move these two…" he went on before he was interrupted.

"I've already thought of that," a voice said from behind. Everyone turned to see that Miguel was putting the finishing touches on a small raft. It looked like something out of a nature survival show. Several pieces of log were wedged together and bound tightly by a vine. Miguel had a satisfied smirk on his face that left Eli baffled.

"What are we going to do with that, swim?!" the pilot exclaimed. "There's no p—"

"That's a great idea!" Phineas cut off the pilot in his excitement. As a beam spread his face, he seemed to forget about his leg long enough to reach into his jacket and pull out some rope. He tossed it over to Miguel after explaining that he could use it to strengthen the bond between the wood. "I should only need it for today, though. I'm going to make a cane or a crutch later," Phineas said as Miguel pulled tightly on the rope, securing that the raft would not fall apart during the hike.

"Again, what are we going to do with that?" Eli sighed in exasperation. "A raft is to be made to cross water, not a rainforest!"

"Open your mind, why don't ya?" Alex mused as he lifted himself onto the raft. He turned to Miguel saying that he wouldn't need the raft after tomorrow either, he just needed some rest. Eli rolled his eyes as he reached into his jacket for a map. Pulling it out, the pilot began to think of a path that would take them to civilization as quickly as possible. They did have limited resources and two injured people on the team. This was going to be a pain in the neck to get out of alive.

"So which way do you think we should go?" a voice asked from behind, causing Eli to tense up slightly. He didn't have to look to know that it was Phineas who had spoken from behind him. Irritated, the man decided not to respond and simply concentrate on the task at hand.

"What's with him?" Miguel asked as he helped Alex move over on the raft to make room for Phineas. Brandon set the team leader on the raft along with the extra branch he had gotten earlier.

"Maybe he's just trying to find a way out of here," Phineas threw the idea out there as he dug in his pocket for one of his three pocket knives. The one he pulled out was his favorite; his brother Ferb had given it to him for his eighteenth birthday, two years ago. So, naturally, it had every appliance the British boy could have thought of, including a small portable laser cutter. Immediately, the red head went to work on fashioning a usable crutch. He would have made a wheel chair, but it would have been difficult to maneuver in the woods.

"But does he even know where we are on the map?" Alex pointed out as he watched Phineas work. Most of the soot had been cleaned off of his burns, and he insisted he was fine whenever asked. According to him, he simply needed to rest for a little while before walking around.

"We're right here," Eli spoke up, startling Alex and Miguel. Brandon simply stared on as Phineas stopped working on his crutch to observe what route the pilot wanted to take. The man was pointing to a spot that had a lake to the north, mountains to the south, a town to the west, and nothing but trees for a long while to the east. "The town that's right here isn't very advanced, but they have a phone we can use to call for help, and that's a start."

"All right, looks like we have a destination," Phineas said before anyone could complain. He studied the map for a few seconds before arriving at a conclusion. "We should make it there within the week if we start now and take short breaks," he stated, looking over at his team with a trademark grin.

"You guys think you can manage?" he asked, the childish challenge in his voice causing Eli to roll his eyes. The rest of the group, however, were used to Phineas' excitement at the impossible and rose to the challenge.

"I'm good," Brandon smirked.

"Count me in," Miguel grinned while slinging the raft's rope over his shoulder confidently.

"I got this in the bag," Alex smiled as he withdrew his survival pack from his jacket. It was filled with food they would need for the trip.

After a few moments, everyone's heads turned to Eli, who had yet to say anything regarding Phineas' good-hearted challenge. Holding the map grumpily, the man stood up and began to walk away, a silent yet cold invitation for the others to follow. So, upon packing their belongings up and getting ready for travel, they did.

_**14AmyChan: Oh yeah, and those of you who wanted to know what the song for "And Now To The Weather" was, it was "Over You", by Miranda Lambert. *^_^***_

_**Phineas: please read and- wait-what?**_

_**Alex: please read and review!**_

_**Phineas:?**_


	3. Nice Chat

_**14AmyChan: I don't own Phineas~! *^_^***_

_**Eli: Just move on already…**_

_**14AmyChan: okay…. -.-**_

**Day 4**

"Are you sure that thing is going to keep strong for you?" Eli pestered for the umpteenth time. He eyed the carved wood crutch uneasily. It would be all too simple for the thing to snap in half, rendering the man useless and—because they had left the raft on the second day—someone would have to carry him. It would be a waste of energy and resources to create another.

"I'm sure," Phineas replied for the millionth time. Usually, he could handle attitudes like this, but even the optimistic red head was beginning to tire of Eli's pessimistic attitude. The man had done nothing but bark orders and have a negative impact on his team, and it was beginning to wear the inventor out. Suddenly, he got an idea.

"So where are you from?" Phineas asked, hoping to take everyone's mind off of the unpleasantness of the entire matter. In fact, the instant the question was asked, the mood of the team seemed to lighten a tad.

"I'm from California," Eli stated. A few more moments of silent walking allowed Phineas' curiosity to simmer for a while. However, Eli said nothing more on the subject. So Phineas, being the kind of person he is, decided to pester him with a few more questions.

"Do you surf?" Phineas asked, causing Eli to laugh dryly. He did not turn around, but he did respond to this question more than the last.

"Not everyone from California lives next to the beach. I played soccer in high school," the pilot's revelation came as a shock to the entire team, who was quiet before he began to speak again. "And in case you're wondering, yes, I was the team Capitan."

"That explains a lot," Miguel said with a sense of lightheartedness in his voice. Phineas turned his head slightly to see a spark of humor in the man's green eyes. "I was a normal player on the lacrosse team in high school. We were team players and had fun on the way."

"They have that in high school?" Alex laughed as he made his way forward. The burns had gone down slightly over the past few days, but the pink skin and constant irritation to the skin were supposed to last a few weeks. However, the brainiac had done well in keeping complaints to a minimum and interacting with the rest of the team in jokes and taking lookout shifts when the team was resting.

"They didn't have it in your school?" Miguel asked, bewildered that the fun sport would be denied to anyone. "Maybe when we get out of this, we can all play a round or two."

"You're going to have to get back home first, lacrosse boy," Eli killed the mood with his statement. However, the nickname 'lacrosse boy' earned a few chuckles from the group. They continued to walk in silence. The next one to break the silence was Phineas.

"So what are you looking forward to when we all go home?" he asked, asserting that everyone _would_ go home alive.

"I'm going to squeeze my wife and daughter so tight!" Alex exclaimed, sending Phineas, Miguel, and Brandon into a fit of chuckling. They continued to chuckle as he went on about how adorable his little girl is and how she had been learning to draw when he got called away. And how he couldn't wait to see his little girl's pictures when he came back. "She draws the cutest stick figures!" he exclaimed, sending the other men into hysterics. Well, except for Eli, of course. He only scoffed and concentrated harder on the map and the route they were taking.

"What about you, Phineas?" Miguel asked, wiping a tear of laughter away from his eye. As soon as the question was asked, Phineas' eye carried a bright glint of happiness and nervousness.

"I'm getting married when I get home," Phineas said, catching the attention of the rest of the team, even Eli.

"To the girl in that photo?" Miguel asked, snapping his fingers in fake defeat. "Man, I hoped she was free. She's cute!"

"He looks at that photo every day and talks to her whenever he has the chance," Brandon pointed out as he moved some tree branches out of the way. "What did you think they were, just friends?"

"Have you been spying on me?" Phineas asked, his ears turning red. It was true, he'd called her whenever circumstances permitted. And right now, he really wished that they permitted. Yet reality told him that he was stranded in the middle of a rainforest with three guys who depended on him and one guy that wanted to be the leader. Reality demanded that he be here right here and right now, and that he could get back to her soon.

"We don't have to," Alex grinned. "We can hear you from the dormitory to the rec room." The others joined in laughing at how red Phineas' face had gotten. It wasn't nearly as bad as his hair, but it was enough to elicit a chuckle from everyone except Eli.

"You might want to rethink that," Eli stated, causing the good mood do plummet yet again. This time, however, the statement brought Phineas' mood down as well.

"Why?" Phineas asked, suddenly unsure of the man holding the map. Why would he say something like that?

"War changes people, the people in it, and the people that aren't," Eli muttered as he picked up the pace. The others had no choice but to try and match his speed. Just as Phineas was about to ask what the man meant, he sensed an aura of hurt and pain coming from the man, and decided that the best thing to do would be to talk about something else.

"So, Brandon, what did you play in high school?" Phineas asked to attempt to keep his mind occupied. However, as the topic went on with football versus lacrosse, Phineas could not help but become worried. What could Eli have meant?

_**14AmyChan: okay, so I'm gonna end there. *^_^***_

_**Phineas: 0.0;**_

_**14AmyChan: lawl~! *^_^* please read and review**_

_**Phineas: what did Eli mean?!**_


	4. Finally! or not?

_**14AmyChan: Okay, so this is the last update for a while. But rest assured, I shall be back! *^_^***_

_**Phineas: *is still nervous***_

_**14AmyChan: did I go overboard…? Me no own-y Phineas!**_

**Day 7**

With the sun high in the sky, the troop of men finally reached the village. Exhausted, but alive, most of them didn't think twice when they simply walked in the small civilization to use the phone and for supplies. While the rest of them walked into town, some intent on finding a phone, while others intent on finding some food, Eli was the only one to notice how rapidly the shutters closed, or the fact that a single child was ushered out of the street, leaving it empty.

"Let's see if we can find anything in that store," Phineas suggested as he led everyone into a general store on the side of the road. Eli only hung back for a few seconds before he felt a sharp pain on his head and everything became black.

"Excuse me," Phineas called in as he opened the door to the store. Everything was still and calm except for the cloud of dust that had raised from the sudden breeze that had entered the small store along with the group of lost soldiers. Almost no one was there. Almost.

Standing behind the counter was a clerk. He looked to be almost forty in age, yet his entire demeanor was cold and stiff.

Phineas decided that the best thing to in this situation would be to be as polite as possible, ask to use the telephone, then leave the man in peace. With a polite smile, he approached the clerk.

"Excuse me, but can we use your telephone?" Phineas asked, keeping his hands to his side—or on his crutch—and his eyes trained on the clerk. He knew if he started looking around the store, he would be wondering he could be inventing anything with any of the supplies around. And even though he was itching to invent, he knew their first priority was to get in touch with someone who could pick up the lost troop.

The clerk stared at Phineas for a long time. Phineas stared back. The longer the unspoken match was, the more uneasy Phineas felt. Something wasn't right here. Maybe the clerk hadn't understood. But Phineas didn't know the native language, but Alex did! Hoping that his team member could help him with what seemed to be a communication error, Phineas turned his head to call for some help.

He didn't know how much help he needed.

_**14AmyChan: TEH SUSPENSE! O.O**_

_**Phineas: what? What's going on now?**_

_**14AmyChan: Tune in for the next chapter~! *^_^***_

_**Alex: No fair!**_

_**14AmyChan: ^^;**_

_**Miguel: read and review, peeps!**_

_**Eli: can we just end this already?**_

_**Brandon: *smacks Eli on back of head***_

_**Everyone else: :)**_


	5. Pain

_**14AmyChan: I still don't own Phineas~!**_

_**Miguel: But you own the rest of us!**_

_**14AmyChan: Yes. Yes I do. Enjoy the story~! *^_^***_

A million ideas went through Phineas' mind at once. How had all fifteen of these men gotten in here without being detected? What were they doing with Eli, who seemed to be limp and—lifeless...? Why were they holding the rest of his men with their hands behind their backs? How had they managed to keep them quiet while he had been talking with the counter clerk? Why did they all look only half awake when they were being held by men they didn't know?

_Click_.

What was that noise? Phineas turned his head to see the seemingly frail counter clerk point a pistol in his face. Phineas' face lost all color when he realized it. This was a trap, and he had gotten his men stuck right in the middle of it. The clerk had dark eyes that showed no remorse. He aimed his gun and fired.

_Bang!_

Phineas crumpled over his crutch for a moment. A shining moment when the crutch held him up before it, too, was shot. The head engineer crumpled over his—now twice wounded—leg and grit his teeth to prevent himself from howling in pain. His steely blue eyes met those of the man closest to him: the clerk.

For a long time, they just remained there, simply glaring at each other. Each probably had a harsh word or two to say, but dared not. Until the clerk took the few steps to close the distance between himself and the man on the ground. Roughly, he clasped a firm grip on Phineas' collar, raised him up, and threw him so he was next to his comrades, who had been placed on the ground by now. He was about to ask what they had done to his men when he saw a man come closer and hit him with the butt of his gun. He held onto consciousness as long as he could.

"Good night, American soldier…" a heavily accented voice was the last thing he heard before he finally lost the battle of consciousness.

* * *

**Day 10**

A blinding flash of pain brought Phineas back to the real world. Swiftly, he looked around, intent on giving that clerk a piece of his mind, and maybe his fist, when he realized something.

"Where are we?" he asked. At least, he tried to ask. Thanks to his drowsiness and a great pain in his head, Phineas only managed a "whurarrrwe?" He took in his surroundings enough to note that he was no longer in the store, but in a small enclosed space. The smell of hay drifted lazily into his nostrils as he tried to tell who was with him. He quickly shook his head to clear it of any dizziness. However, when his senses came back to him, the pain intensified.

"OW!" Phineas yelped before he could stop it. Good news, he could speak clearly again. Bad news, everyone had heard his cry out of pain. But who was "everyone"? Phineas couldn't tell. At least, not until they spoke up.

"I'd be in pain, too," Eli's voice penetrated the darkness. Though relieved to have someone familiar around, Phineas wasn't too keen on sharing a cell with only him. "If I got shot in a broken leg."

"It's not like he needs to be reminded," another voice came through. If there was anyone who'd be willing to come through for him against the pilot, it was Miguel. However, his tone wasn't sarcastic. There was actually no emotion in it. This worried Phineas, especially since Miguel had been the one to usually come up with a biting remark to the pilot.

"How long was I out?" Phineas asked, still attempting to gather his surroundings. He felt for the tender bump on his head, a reminder of the store and his horrible mistake of taking them there.

"Three days…" Miguel answered, still devoid of any emotion. Phineas was beginning to worry. Where were Brandon and Alex? Brandon wouldn't be talking much, but at least Alex would be talking up a storm.

"Where are Brandon and Alex?" Phineas asked, praying to God that they were simply unconscious. The prolonged silence between the men said something worse could have happened. A quiet rustle. Phineas could see some bleary shapes now that his eyes were getting used to the darkness. Eli, the taller one, had his back against one of the walls. He stared up at the enclosed ceiling, but he could not make out any facial expression. The engineer scanned the rest of the room for Miguel, hoping to get some answers from him. He didn't have to search long. Miguel was sitting against the wall on the other side of the room from Eli. He sat with his knees up and head down, a sign of defeat. Concerned, Phineas began to inch his way to Miguel, the man who always had an answer, even when Phineas himself didn't.

"Miguel, what happened to Brandon and Alex?" Phineas asked as soon as he had made his way through the hay to sit in front of Miguel. It was then that he noticed something. Miguel's right hand had something enclosed in it. He was holding onto it tightly, as if it were a lifeline in the midst of a stormy sea. "What is that?" Phineas asked, finally receiving a response from Miguel.

Silently, Miguel held his hand out, to which Phineas responded by holding his hand out as well. With a soft clink of metal, a few metal tags fell into the man's hand. Though they didn't weigh much, the two items dropped a weight in Phineas' heart that he couldn't explain by any word. "Grief", "Sorrow", "Pain". All these words came to mind, yet were too shallow to explain the hurt he felt. Desperately, he tried to explain it away to himself. They couldn't be gone. Their tags probably fell off while they were getting away. They couldn't be… They were probably waiting out in the woods for the rest of them, making a plan to get everyone home safe and sound. Because everyone _would_ get home—

"They were good soldiers," Eli said softly, bringing Phineas to reality. Yet reality was not somewhere the man wanted to be right now.

"They _are_ good soldiers," the engineer corrected. Though he couldn't give himself the courage to look up, he said every word with forceful conviction. Yet his voice began to falter as he continued. "They're not… they're probably out in the forest right now, trying to get us out. Maybe they're—"

"That's denial if I've ever heard it," Eli stated, effectively cutting Phineas off. A rustle of footsteps came around and the pilot's face came into view. The man's experienced face expressed much more than words alone could have ever done. His eyes were steely, yet had the tracks of tears. His voice didn't waver, but that couldn't stop the quaking of his lower lip as he continued. "Sir, those _were_ good men. They didn't die so we could sit here and pretend that they didn't. If we want to get out of here, we're going to have to put it aside for now and think of a plan."

"Put it aside?" Phineas' voice was no more than a whisper. An angry whisper. His head whipped around to look Eli in the eye. "Those are two good men! They're still—"

"They're gone, Phineas…" a small voice spoke up. Shocked to hear the level of sadness in his voice, the head engineer looked to Miguel, who had spoken. His face was coated in tears, and was covered in new cuts and bruises. Phineas took in how roughed up his last man was and began to search his jacket for what he wanted as Miguel continued.

"They're both gone, and I couldn't do anything…" Miguel continued as soon as Phineas fished it out. Disguised to match part of his uniform, he and his brother had invented a nano transformer. An idea they had gotten from a videogame a while ago. Probably when they were fifteen. This one had been made right before Phineas had left to serve, and held an abundance of items that were to be used only in emergencies. Phineas began to clean and bandage Miguel's cuts as he continued his story…

* * *

**Miguel POV**

_I watched as our leader fell to the ground, in so much more pain than the rest of us. I tried to clear my drugged up brain enough to ram the bastard who did it. Alex beat me to it, though…_

_With a cry that could have easily come from an animal, Alex practically burst from the ground and managed to give the man who'd taken down our head a good sock to his head. The sight began to pump adrenaline in me, and I could feel the effects of the drugs wearing off a little more quickly. I shook my head to speed up the process, and with that I began to move. I pushed myself off the ground and managed to ram the guys nearest to me. I reached into my boot and grabbed my knife. It had been a gift from my grandfather from when he went to war. It had apparently saved his life on more than one occasion. Now it was saving our hides._

_I managed to nick a few of the guards in their knees. I don't know why I kept aiming for their legs, maybe a twisted sense of irony. I took off to stand guard over Phineas, who was getting kicked by that fake counter clerk. I hit him in the face and my knife managed to get his face just right. His cheek gushed blood, and I instantly felt sick. I'm only an engineer; I'm not big on the whole fighting thing!_

_So this guy pulls out a weapon of his own. Nails! Literally, he grew his nails long enough to become a weapon! While that _is_ resourceful, it was really disgusting. He fights me. I fight him back. We both got cut up a lot. I managed to hit him hard enough to knock him out. And the guys who were attacking us seemed to be shrinking away!_

_Until one of them realized they had guns on their side._

_When the shootings started to happen, I took Phineas and hid behind some shelves, looking for a gun of my own. I don't usually carry one, but that was a habit I had to break when I became part of the U.S. Air Force. Armed with a small pistol and only six bullets, I had to make every shot count. I began to take small chances and glance to see where our enemies were positioned._

_Fifteen men. Six bullets. If I killed anyone, I wouldn't be able to sleep for a week, let alone move fast enough to get out of here. I glanced around, wondering what the situation with the others was. I saw Brandon covering for that pilot, who seemed to get hit pretty hard earlier. If we weren't in a life or death situation, I would say it served him right._

_There! Three thin beams held up a large portion of the poorly made roof. If there was anything I learned from our head's long rants about inventions, is that every thing in the history of mankind has a weak spot. I aimed my small gun as best as I could and shot._

_The bullet managed to hit the side of one of the beams, ripping it in two. The roof sagged slightly, but no one else noticed it amidst the gunfire. I smiled to myself. One down, two to go. I took a deep breath, popped my head out once more, and then fired again. This bullet missed my target completely. I drew my head in before I could get shot myself. I wiped some blood out of my eye from the skirmish with the clerk. I needed to focus._

_Two beams, four bullets. I stuck my head out from my hiding place and shot again. Nailed it! This time, I ripped the beam apart. The ceiling sagged some more, giving me hope. I shot again. I hit the last beam!_

_The ceiling sagged, but didn't fall. With despair and panic threatening to overtake my judgment, I took a deep breath and tried to figure out what had gone wrong with my plan. I only had two bullets left! A groan of pain reminded me that it wasn't just my life on the line, but everyone else's, too…_

_Then I saw it! It was a thin rope that held the roof up now. If I could shoot it, then the roof would crash down on all fifteen men! I took the best aim I could. I waited a second, 'cause it was all I could spare. I fired._

_With relief, the roof collapsed in on itself, giving the rest of us the perfect—NO! The roof was falling too fast! I couldn't get out! I searched frantically for a millisecond before strong arms took me and threw me out of a window that was behind me. Duh! A window! But I didn't have much time to mock my own stupidity, as Phineas, the pilot, and Alex were all thrown after me. I waited for Brandon to jump out after us. He had his leg out of the window when an arm snapped around his neck and dragged him back into the collapsing building. Before he disappeared, he wrenched his dog tag out of his pocket and threw it my way. I tried to weasel my way out of the pile of people on me, but I wasn't fast enough._

_The building collapsed on all sixteen of our enemies. And one of my friends. I stood in shock for a minute before a hand on my shoulder reminded me of where I was._

"_M-Miguel…" Alex stuttered after a shaky breath. "They're…. they're not waking up… we… we've got to get out of here…_

_I wasn't aware that I had nodded, or that I had picked up Phineas and began to run. Alex had grabbed the annoying pilot—who I wished was conscious at this point—and followed me to the outskirts of the town. We managed to find a barn and hide there for a day or two. But by then…. It was too late. I hadn't been able to notice a gunshot wound. A freaking gunshot wound! The red blood had soaked his uniform, but I hadn't noticed it. Why hadn't I noticed it?_

* * *

**Back to normal POV**

"…If I noticed it, then I could have done something…" Miguel concluded as Phineas finished with Miguel's injuries. The head engineer had only sat in shock during the story. Surprisingly, even Eli hadn't said a word. "It's my fault… I shot the ceiling down… I didn't notice a gunshot wound… I—"

"If it's anyone's fault, it's mine," Phineas interrupted Miguel's lament. Miguel simply stared at Phineas before he continued. "I should have remembered how deep into enemy territory we are and kept my eyes open. Because I wasn't more aware, things are only going to get tougher for us all…"

A moment of silence followed Phineas' statement. They all knew there was at least a grain of truth behind what the man had just said. Things were going to get a lot harder for them for who knows how long. Phineas clenched at the two metal tags that were in his hand. If there was anything Phineas Flynn could do for the two men, it would be to keep going and get everyone else home safely. But some things had to be done before all of that.

"Do you want to say good bye first?" Eli asked the question the other two dared not. He continued on, the other two men hanging onto his every word. "I came to when Miguel was burying Alex, and we have a grave marker. It's as good a good bye as any."

With a shaky nod, Phineas attempted to lift himself off the ground, only to fall with an immense amount of pain. The head engineer glanced to his leg and noticed that the splint that he had fashioned with Brandon was gone. There were also some pieces of wood in his leg. Silently, Phineas placed his fingers on one of the pieces of shrapnel lightly before yanking it back in pain. He couldn't even _touch_ the wood that was embedded in his leg. Part of the wood that had helped to set his leg just a week ago. It was now a form of torture.

"We don't have anything for the pain," Eli stated. The information seemed useless to Phineas, who just wanted the pain to stop. Yet, alas, there was nothing he could do. He hadn't thought to bring painkillers along with him, and now he deeply regretted that fact. He knew that he had to get the shrapnel out of his leg, but was also aware of the pain. The deep, biting, stinging, agonizing pain it would cause.

"Just get it out," Phineas said with all the courage he could muster. That began the excruciating process of getting each dirty piece of wood out of his leg. The entire process must have taken four hours. Four hours of nothing but blinding pain. More than once, the man had blacked out from how much it hurt him. Yet there was nothing he could do. He could not cry out, for if he did, someone would have been sure to find them. They had no idea if there was anyone around, but after the store, they couldn't be too careful.

"That's all we can get without a hospital team," Eli said as he buried the blood-soaked wood under some hay. Phineas nodded, having just become conscious once again. Too weak and physically unable to stand, the man was hoisted onto Miguel's back, who was a lot stronger than he looked. The men gathered all their supplies and walked out of the barn. It looked as if no one had been there, except for the rotting smell of blood. But there was nothing the men could do about that.

After a half hour of walking, they finally reached the marker. Phineas was set on the ground next to the mound with a rock at one side. The man looked around for another rock and placed it next to the first. With as steady a hand as he could, the man got out his laser pocket knife and wrote on the two rocks.

_Alexander Raid_

_Brandon Forrest_

Satisfied with the work he had done, yet miserable that it had to be done, Phineas placed the rocks name-side down on the forest floor. No one could know they'd been here, and no one could follow them. After a few moments of silence, Phineas was placed on Miguel's back and the smaller team was off again.

They all knew that hardship lay ahead. But what hardships and for how long? No one could say.

_**14AmyChan: Okay, that was a REALLY long chapter…. I'm pooped!**_

_**Phineas: that was sad!**_

_**14AmyChan: It had to be! **_

_**Miguel: …**_

_**Eli: please read it and review it.**_

_**14AmyChan: and if you could, could ya'll vote on my profile please?! Thanks~! *^_^***_


	6. Hope

_**14AmyChan: Okay, sad story underway~! *^_^***_

_**Miguel: Why are you so cheerful…?**_

_**14AmyChan: Because I like this story~! *^_^***_

_**Eli: Why?**_

_**14AmyChan: I dunno… *^_^***_

_**Phineas: I am so glad she doesn't own me…**_

_**Eli: yeah, lucky you…**_

**Day 13**

The trio moved as swiftly as they could. With rations that could barely feed a five year old and a wounded man to contend to, it was impossibly slow going. Phineas, who was now on another raft they had made yesterday, kept his eye peeled for any signs of people. While the pain still gnawed at him, he had to remain focused on defense if they wanted to make it out of there alive. The group had not spoken since their silent farewells to their deceased three days ago. Heavy hearts and critical situations had both contributed to that fact.

Eli pulled out his map, the same one from the plane crash that seemed months ago. With the aide of a pencil that Phineas had lent him and a compass he kept with him at all times, he marked their progress. According to his calculations, they could make it to the lake in eleven days at their rate. While slightly discouraging, the fact that they could make it gave him hope. _Oh, to feel hope again…_

Miguel dragged Phineas along, not saying a word. Though he already knew the situation and was working on the best way to survive, he still had trouble looking up and not seeing Alex or Brandon there. There was no Brandon to silently stare or help haul Phineas around, no Alex to smile and go on about his wife and kid… There was nothing there… Shuffling along, the man could only think of how he could have… Could have gotten out of that building faster so Brandon wouldn't have had to throw him… Could have noticed that gunshot wound before…

"Where are we going?" Phineas asked, breaking the three days' worth of silence. The question caused Miguel to halt. Where _were_ they going? They hadn't spoken, so no plans had been laid. They'd only followed Eli because he had the map and—as Miguel assumed—a plan. Now that the question had been asked, Miguel wondered why he didn't think of it sooner.

"We're headed to the lake," Eli responded without skipping a beat. While the sound of someone talking had sent his heart pounding, he did not show it. He glanced at his map once more, then at his surroundings. "If there's water there, there should be some kind of food source. That can keep us going until we can somehow call for help."

"Who's gonna be there?" Miguel asked as Phineas kept his eyes peeled. Phineas had wondered the same thing. The pilot wasn't one to have hope or believe in things that were unrealistic. Even things that were realistic, he took with a spoonful of salt. Phineas had learned that much from the first week with the man.

"There's a plane that should be making another delivery in about two weeks," Eli answered. Though it was a slim chance that they could get the transport to notice them, it was a plan. And a plan was better than nothing. "It's supposed to bow out a little from the path we took, so they may have a better chance of seeing the lake than we did," Eli's voice betrayed his spirits, which were lifted. The sound of emotion—though a pleasant welcome from the droning of statistics—had Miguel off on a million doubting tangents.

"There's no guarantee that the plane will even see us," Miguel stated. Eli's hope began to fade. The tone in his voice caused Phineas to turn to face the two men, who seemed to be giving up. Even Phineas began to feel the pressure of an existence without hope. It was something that he wanted nothing to do with. Hope was something he had to have.

_**[A/N: (******__h-t-t-p-s-:-/-/-w-w-w-.-y-o-u-t-u-b-e-.-c-o-m-/-w-a-t-c-h-?-v-=-L-b-U-p-P-V-O-E-k-d-A _) please listen to this while reading! Makes things so much better!]

Silently, he began to clutch at the hope that had been given. He began to see a chance at living. At getting out of this nightmare. Hope began to bloom zealously in his spirit. Looking behind him, he could see that this small miracle was something that neither of his partners shared. Racking his brains for a way to cheer them up, he finally concluded of a way to keep some hope alive.

"**I used to think that I could not go on…"** Phineas began to sing softly, gaining the attention of Eli and Miguel.

"What are you—" Eli was cut off by Miguel, who instantly shushed him. He knew the best thing they could do was listen.

"**And life was nothing but an awful song…"** Phineas felt that some change in the words was needed here.

"**But now I know the meaning of hope,  
I'm leaning on the gift it's given me…**

**If we can see it, then we can do it  
If we just believe it… there's nothing to it…"**

Phineas looked up to his comrades and offered a small smile in hopes that the wonderful feeling of hope would return to them all.

"**I believe we can fly  
I believe we can touch the sky  
I'm thinkin' 'bout it every night and day  
Spread our wings and fly away  
I believe we can soar  
I see us running to that cockpit door!"**

This earned a chuckle from Miguel, a relief for Phineas. Even Eli was smiling a little bit. The thought of the safety of the plane was bringing hope.

"**I believe we can fly…  
I believe we can fly…  
I believe we can fly…"** Phineas concluded the first verse as Miguel picked up, his voice almost cracked from the pure emotion.

"**See I was on the verge of breaking down…"** Miguel started as Phineas continued to keep time.

"**Sometimes the silence can seem so loud…  
There are miracles in life I must achieve…**"Miguel's voice began to crack as he thought about the lives he could have saved. But a feeling inside him caused him to finish the verse. And he believed it.

"**But first I know it starts inside of me…, oh**

**If we can see it, then we can be it  
If we believe it… there's nothing to it" **With a weak grin, Miguel sang the chorus along with Phineas, Eli smiling slightly over to the side. In their hearts, hope was taking full bloom once more.

"**I believe we can fly  
I believe we can touch the sky  
I'm thinkin' 'bout it every night and day  
Spread our wings and fly away  
I believe we can soar  
I see us running to our homes' front door!  
I believe we can fly…  
I believe we can fly…  
I believe we can fly…"** Miguel smirked as he waited for Eli to continue the song. After a few moments, both eyes rested on the pilot. Sensing that he could not get out of this one—and realizing the fact that he didn't _want_ to get out of this one—Eli sang the edited bridge, the other two singing backup when needed.

"**Cause we believe in hope  
If we can see it… then we can do it **_(we can do it)_**  
If we just believe it… there's nothing to it**

**I believe we can fly  
I believe we can touch the sky  
I'm thinkin' 'bout it every night and day  
Spread our wings and fly away  
I believe we can soar  
I see us running to that airplanes' door!  
I believe we can fly…  
I believe we can fly…  
I believe we can fly…"**

Phineas decided to take the lead for the last few lines of the song, and the other two men had no problem with backup.

"**Hey if we just spread our wings  
We can fly...  
We can fly...  
We can fly up high...  
If we just spread our wings...  
We can fly-eye-eye-eye...  
Ooh! Fly-eye-eye..."**

By no means had their singing made their situation any better. They still had little food, little strength, and barely a skeleton of a plan. But they now had something they didn't have before: hope. And for now, that was enough to keep them going.

**Day 19**

It had been another exhausting day. The men had agreed to take a three hour rest, each man having a guard shift for one hour. Phineas volunteered for first watch. The other two men had no qualms with it and were soon asleep.

So as it was, there was a small fire where Phineas could just think. And while he was keeping a keen eye and ear out for any disturbances, he couldn't help but think about home. The fun summers there. The friends and family he had close to him. Silently, he withdrew a picture from when he and his friends were just a bit younger.

Sixteen year olds Phineas, Ferb, Isabella, Buford, and Baljeet were being themselves in front of the camera. While Phineas had reached for everyone in the vicinity for a group hug, Buford had gathered up his nerd and had proceeded to unceremoniously sit on him. Phineas rolled his eyes even now at the duo's strange relationship. While Buford had sat on Baljeet, Ferb had stuck his index finger in a 900 page novel and proceeded to be gathered into Phineas' impromptu hug. Through the years, the British boy had let himself become more expressive, and it showed with the grin he had on his face. Also, the bunny ears he had placed behind Phineas' head didn't hurt. Then there was Isabella. She, too, had been surprised by Phineas' hug, but pleasantly so. While she had been smiling at the camera, her head had also managed to "fall" onto his shoulder. Phineas grinned embarrassedly at the conversation that followed that.

"Shouldn't you be on watch?" a voice penetrated the night, bringing Phineas back to the cold reality he was in. Quickly, he glanced up at Eli, who should have been asleep.

"Yeah," the engineer answered. However, the pilot wasn't satisfied with this answer, evident when he only continued to glare. A few minutes of awkward silence followed. Well, awkward for Phineas, not so much for Eli. Yet they remained quiet until Eli spoke again.

"Who's in the picture?" the man suddenly inquired, relieving Phineas from the unbearable silence. He glanced at the photo again before answering.

"Me and my friends from back home," Phineas replied, seeing no reason to hide it from the man. His entire team knew that he carried the photo with him everywhere. It was a treasure to him, as were the people in it.

"Can I see it?" Eli asked, his sudden spurt of curiosity nearly throwing Phineas for a loop.

"I'll show it to you," Phineas compromised as he scooted gently over to Eli. He held out the picture with a grin on his face as he introduced everyone. "That's Buford Van Stromm. He's got a job as a principal now. Never thought he'd be that good with kids, but that Buford for you. The one he's sitting on is Baljeet Rai. He's one of the professors at Danville University. He could have gone to teach over at Yale or Baylor, but he wanted to stay close to home. He's got a wife and a kid on the way." Phineas laughed lightly at this. He never thought Baljeet would be the first to marry and have kids, but that was life for you. He continued. "That's my brother, Ferb. He works wherever he's needed. You could say he's trying out a lot of different jobs before picking one he likes. I bet he could do anything he wanted to." Phineas grinned at how his brother had work experience for almost everything. Everything that didn't include a spotlight, that is.

"Who's she?" Eli asked warily. Though Phineas thought he sounded skeptical, he went on to introduce her.

"That's Isabella," Phineas said proudly, as if he'd won a marathon. "Right now she's the adult supervisor for the Fireside Girls. They're a type of girl scouts in Danville," he explained for Eli's sake.

"She's the one you were engaged to?" Eli asked as he looked at the picture. He had to admit that she was pretty, but she could be just like—

"I _am_ engaged to her," Phineas corrected as he took the picture back and returned it to its rightful place in his jacket. Isabella hadn't left him yet. He was so sure of it. The last message he's had with her a little over two weeks ago, she'd said that she couldn't wait for him to come home. And he, in turn, couldn't wait to get back not only to her, but to his entire family and all of his friends. And he knew they wouldn't give up hope on him.

"It's been nineteen days since the plane went down," Eli pointed out, shaking his head. "If there's been a search party, they probably would have gone to the crash site to see if there were any survivors."

"So we could have waited by the plane?" Phineas asked, mentally slapping himself for not thinking of that sooner. All of them could have gone home by now! All of them…

"How do you think we could have survived by there?" Eli asked, raising a good point. "Going to town for supplies was a good move; it just wasn't a good move to go in assuming they were allies." Phineas bowed his head in shame at this. He still felt the fault was his, and Eli didn't try to convince him otherwise.

"So what, they think we're dead?" Phineas whispered as he continued his thought in horror. As Eli nodded in agreement, the red headed inventor went back about a month or so ago. When he'd left Isabella to serve. He remembered what he'd asked her _"If I don't make it back, then will you not dwell on me and find yourself some happiness?"_

"We should be on the MIA list by now," Eli stated solemnly. He watched as the news began to sink in for Phineas, yet he made no move of comfort. He felt it was best for the man to process this on his own. It was a while before he talked again. "Your girl's probably moved on. Most do."

Phineas' ears perked. Though the news was devastating to him, he couldn't help but feel that the pilot knew exactly what he was talking about. And not from books, either, but from experience. "How are you so sure?" Phineas asked, partly to get an answer, and partly to believe that what the man was saying wasn't true.

"Mine thought I was dead," Eli's response was almost robotic. As if he'd taken all emotion and severed it away. It was just cold, hard fact. "I was on the MIA too long, and she couldn't take it anymore. I came back and she'd moved on." At this point, he pulled out a picture of a young woman holding a child and standing next to a man that most defiantly _wasn't_ Eli.

"By the time I had been taken off MIA, she'd gotten married and had a kid. She's got four of them now," Eli said as Phineas continued to examine the picture. All of a sudden, the situation became more real to him than ever. Isabella could move on. She could think he was dead like the rest of the world and move on. She could marry Ferb, or Buford, or some guy he had no idea about. Phineas didn't want to believe it could happen, but he himself had told her to move on if he died. And she now thought he was dead. Was she going to move on?

"What did you do?" Phineas asked as he faced the all-too-real possibility that his bride-to-be may move on. No amount of love would change him being dead if he were.

"I went back into the military," Eli said simply as he took the picture and placed it in his jacket. "She probably still thinks I'm dead, but at least she moved on. Besides, they still need me here, I'm the best pilot there is." Eli's attempt at humor was pathetic at best, but it did its job. Phineas smiled slightly before he realized why Eli was even awake.

"Go to sleep, it's my shift," Eli commanded as Phineas decided to get his two hours worth of rest. As the red headed soldier went to sleep, he saw Eli take out his picture again.

_**14AmyChan: OKAY~! *^_^* I made Eli's story a little better than what I originally thought. *^_^***_

_**Eli: what was supposed to happen to me?**_

_**14AmyChan: she was going to leave you because she didn't approve of the war, but no one really does that. So this was a more plausible story. *^_^***_

_**Eli: you're evil…**_

_**14AmyChan: And I own you~! *^_^***_

_**Phineas: again: so glad she doesn't own me… *shiver***_

_**14AmyChan: Please read and review~! *^_^* oh, and if you can't reach the link, the song is "I Believe I Can Fly" by R Kelly. If you could find it some way other than youtube, I'll replace the link with that one. *^_^***_

_**Miguel: I get the feeling something bad is going to happen….**_


	7. On Their Way

_**14AmyChan: New chapter~! *^_^***_

_**Phineas: She doesn't own me, my friends, or anything to do with me.**_

_**Eli: Thanks a lot. -.-**_

_**14AmyChan: I own you and Miguel, Eli~! *^_^* lawl!**_

_**Miguel: how do you stay so cheerful?**_

_**14AmyChan: uhhhhh….. just read on, I guess….**_

_**Miguel: what..?**_

**Day 23**

The forest was still, save for the occasional animal or scavenger lightly hopping from one place to the next in search of food. The natural calm of the forest, however, was soon shattered by three men and a raft crashing through. Dirty and worn out, the men stopped to catch their breath.

"How far do you think we are?" Miguel asked between breaths. Ever since yesterday, the excitement of reaching the lake had pumped adrenaline into their systems, causing them to go a little faster unintentionally. However, the speed had cost them extra strength, and strength was something they needed right now.

"We should be coming up on it soon," Eli returned, still panting. They hadn't stopped since their rest four days ago, even with Phineas' constant reminders that they weren't supermen and they should have rested.

"Guys, I really think you should just take a break right now," Phineas tried again. He still kept his eyes peeled for any sign of danger, but since leaving the barn thirteen days ago they hadn't come across any trouble. Even the animals had been steering clear of them. Perhaps it was their smell. "Why don't we check the map?"

"Eli's already got it out," Miguel answered for the pilot, who was looking at the aforementioned object as they spoke. A few minutes of catching breath left no sound except for the men's breathing and the sounds of nature. Soon, a sound rumbled through the thick forest floor.

"Please tell me that isn't what I think it is…" Phineas said, breaking the tense silence. In response to their silence, the engineer looked around as far as he could see to make sure that they were alone. Regrettably, they were not.

Not thirty feet away from them was a large animal. Though he couldn't say for sure, Phineas felt pretty sure what the animal was. It didn't move. Neither did they. After almost twenty minutes, the animal moved in closer. Phineas reached for any means of defense in the area. That was, unfortunately, Miguel's gun, which hadn't left his side since the incident. Careful to keep the animal in his sight, the head engineer turned to see if Miguel had pulled out the gun. He had.

"Don't shoot it…" Eli warned, sending Phineas and Miguel into confusion.

"It's a bear, what if it attacks us?!" Miguel hissed, taking aim as the bear curiously placed one paw in front of the other, making its way to the stranded soldiers. Miguel's hand shook with the gun in hand.

"And what if you waste your shot on a bear that wasn't going to attack?" Eli bit back as he placed his hand on top of the gun and eased it down. "Bears only attack when provoked or when their young are in danger. I don't know about you, but I don't see any baby cubs around."

"What about when they need food?" Phineas asked as he returned his attention to the bear, which had stopped behind a line of trees. It simply looked at them with big eyes. It was watching them.

"Bears go to rivers and lakes for fish. If the lake is as close as this map says it is, we're not on the menu," Eli said, also watching the bear. Now that it was close, the pilot could identify it. To his relief, it was a spectacled bear, one of the shyest of bear kind. It wouldn't hurt them if not provoked or startled.

"And if we're not?" Miguel asked, fear and doubt still in his voice. The bear had stopped and made no moves, but the man didn't want to take any chances. He tried raising the gun again.

"Then we're as good as dead anyway," Eli said bluntly as he forced the gun back down.

"Guys, it's climbing a tree…" Phineas interrupted. In truth, the bear began to claw its way up one of the nearby trees. All three men watched as the bear scurried up the tree. When it was out of their sight, they heard numerous soft growls.

For several moments, the men stood there, not wanting to incur any wrath of the mother bear. After what seemed like an eternity, Phineas finally spoke.

"That bear had some fish in its mouth," he observed, pulling the other men out of their transfixion on the tree. Eli turned around first, hand still on Miguel's gun.

"Your point?" Eli hissed, obviously not wanting to make too much noise and startle the bear.

"Well, our rations are low and—"

"We could cook up the fish!" Miguel exclaimed, holstering the gun and face palming himself for not realizing it sooner. He turned and grabbed the rope on the raft and jerked it forward in his haste, almost leaving Phineas to fall off. Confused, Eli hurried to catch up to the two men, who now had a decent head start over the pilot. The man soon became frustrated with the newfound optimism in the remaining squad.

"A few minutes ago you were doubting weather or not we were going in the right direction at all and now you can't move fast enough!" Eli bellowed as he hurried to catch up. From behind, he saw as Phineas began to double check the bindings that held the raft together with a grin on his face, sending Eli into a frustrated curious frenzy.

"No, we can't move fast enough, but at least now we know we're going the right way," Miguel said over his shoulder as he kept going.

"And If we're going the right way, we can make it home!" Phineas chimed in enthusiastically. **(****link to On My Way [ h_t_t_p_:_/_/_y_o_u_t_u_._b_e_****/KqKa942QtzQ ] )** Home was something he wanted to see desperately right about now. He missed his mother and his father. He missed his older sister and her ever-present attempts to "bust" her grown brothers, even with a husband, a little girl, and a set of twins on the way. He missed inventing with his brother and seeing what he was doing in his life, the constant job hopping because he "hadn't found his niche quite yet". He also missed Isabella, and the thought of her now tugged at his heart in a way he didn't like. But… There could still be a chance… if they made it…

"**Tell everybody I'm on my way  
New friends and new places to see!" **Though Phineas wanted desperately to go home, he couldn't deny that he was certinaly in some new places. And when he got home, everyone would want to know all about it. For now, he focused on the positive.

"**With blue skys ahead, yes I'm on my way,  
Yet home is where I'd rather be!"** This change in the lyrics had Miguel look back at him strangely, yet Phineas only laughed it off, earning a grin from Miguel and a smirk from the pilot. Laughing, Miguel joined in.

"**Tell everybody I'm on my way, and I'm loving every step I take!  
With the sun beating down, yes I'm on my way  
And I can't keep this smile off my face!"** Miguel beamed as he thought of his family back home. The first thing he would do when he got home would be to give his little brother a noogie. Big time. Then he'd hug his mom and wrestle with his dad. He thought about his job back home. Not something he really wanted to go back to, but even that sounded good right now.

"**Cause there's nothing like seeing each other again  
no matter what the distance may be,"** Eli joined into the singing band, this time without fuss. With wide grins, they joined in with him.

"**And the stories that we tell will make you smile,  
Oh, it really lifts my heart!  
So tell 'em all I'm on my way!  
New friends and new friends and new places to see!"** the men glanced around and grinned stupidly. Even in the middle of a forest, they could still try to make the most of every second.

"**And to walk under the sun, who could ask for more?  
With my friends keeping watch over me?"** Miguel sang, drastically changing the lyrics and sending Phineas into a small fit of laughter. Still grinning, he picked up where the song left off.

"**Not the snow, not the rain can change my mind  
The sun will come out, wait and see!"** Phineas smiled as he thought about the picture in his pocket. His family and friends were waiting for him back home, and he was surely on his way to go to them, no matter what. A slight breeze came through.

"**And the feeling of the wind in your face  
Can lift your heart, the base is where I'd rather be!"** Eli sang, and no one questioned his chosen lyrics as they joined in.

"**Cause I'm on my way now…  
Well and truly!  
We're on our way now…"** they sang before Miguel dissapeared, Phineas and raft in tow. More than slightly panicked, Eli ran up to see that Miguel and Phineas were sliding down the side of a large hillside with the raft as a sled. They were whooping and hollering as if it were one of the best roller coasters ever concieved. Eli cracked a grin. "Amateurs…" he breathed before looking around. As if by some kind of luck, he quickly found a wide flat piece of wood that he attached a couple of flexible strips of bark to, side-by-side. Without a word, he walked over to the cliff and noticed that the other two still hadn't reached the bottom. Without wasting a second, Eli jumped off the edge, strapped his feet in, and began shredding dirt.

Soon, he came side-by-side with the other two men, who had their hands in the air. They laughed loudly and found their way often blocked with several obsicals such as trees or brush. Grinning, Eli swerved gracefully around these difficulties without breaking a sweat.

Once he could see the other again, Eli rolled his eyes. They didn't just _avoid_ the obsticals. They made a show of it. A set of branches that jutted out from the ground had caught Phineas' eye, and he steered the raft in that direction. Before Miguel had quite grasped the concept of what the man planned to do, they were up in the air, holding onto the wooden raft for dear life.

Eli felt a slight difference in the substance beneath him, but paid it no real heed until he found himself looking back at Phineas and Miguel who were flying over… water? Looking around, the pilot found himself in a huge body of water, and a grin broke out of his face. A large splash behind him set a discourse of water, close enough to a wave, bound for the shore. Riding the tiny wave, Eli whooped in pure joy. They'd made it to the lake. Behind him, he could hear the others pick up on the song. He filled in the echos just as loudly.

"**Tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I just can't wait to be there **_(Just can't wait to be there!)  
_**With blue skys ahead yes I'm on my way  
With nothing but good times to share  
So, tell everybody I'm on my way  
And I just can't wait to be home **_(Just can't wait to be home!)  
_**With the sun beating down yes I'm on my way  
And nothing but good times to show  
I'm on my waaay!  
Yes I'm on my waaay!"** Eli only stared around the edge of the lake, taking it all in for a few seconds. It was a wide-open area that anyone could see from the sky. And if a smoke-signal were given, then someone would be sure to spot it. There was plenty of wood around for a fire, so they'd have a nice night to wait, at least.

When he felt a hand on his shoulder, he turned to see a dirt-covered Miguel smiling at him. Then looked down to see Phineas, also caked in a fine layer of dust and greenery.

"Hey, we made it!" Phineas grinned from his spot on the raft. He looked around and smiled. "And this place has a lot of potential, too…"

Smiling, Eli looked around the beach once more. "Yeah, it does…" he said. Silently, he counted down the hours until rescue. It should be only fifteen hours now…

"All right, who wants to go fishing?" Miguel asked, a smile on his face.

_**14AmyChan: okay~! So, still not done. I have to write a few more chapters, and then this should be all bundled up and nice for ya'lls~! *^_^***_

_**Phineas: What was that song?**_

_**14AmyChan: okay, so the song was "On My Way" from the movie Brother Bear… Man, I haven't seen that movie in forever…**_

_**Miguel: uh-oh…**_

_**14AmyChan: anyways, please read and review~! *^_^***_

_**Eli: …**_


	8. Fishing

_**14AmyChan: Okay, me no own-y Phineas~!**_

_**Jeremy Wade: And all information on River Monsters can be found at my web site**_

_**14AmyChan: I'll link it at the bottom, along with some fun facts~! *^_^***_

_**Jeremy Wade: Amy does not own the Phineas and Ferb content, but does own the remaining soldiers.**_

_**14AmyChan: Oh yeah! WARNING! Has lots of blood in this chapter. If you skim it, you could probably skip over the excessively bloody parts. But other than that, enjoy~! *^_^***_

"Fishing?" Eli asked. Though he'd done his fair amount of (poor) fishing in the past, Eli couldn't—"you mean for food?" he asked, finally catching on. He wished he could just hit his head with the base of his palm. But such a show of failure wasn't an option for him. So he did it mentally.

"Why else?" Miguel returned. He grinned at the raft. "We've got a boat to fish from and I'm pretty sure Phineas is pretty good with fish and fire." Upon the compliment, Phineas grinned and shrugged.

"Biology was a good subject to take…" he murmured, waving off the compliment. He dug in his pocket and pulled out his pocket knife. Checking the battery for the laser, his smile shrank. "The laser doesn't have enough power to make a good fishing rod. I forgot to switch out the batteries before the plane ride…"

"Your laser runs on batteries?" Eli scoffed, for once genuinely disappointed with the fiery-haired engineer. "I thought you would have been able to use solar panels or something…"

"We couldn't fit them that small," Phineas shrugged, looking at the knife again. Upon closer inspection, though the batteries wouldn't hold out for an entire fishing rod, it could start a quick fire. That much he was thankful for.

"Well, it's a good thing I took a wood-carving class my senior year of high school," Eli said, pulling out his own army Swiss knife. Grabbing the plank of wood he'd used as a surf board not too long ago, the pilot sat down and began to whittle away the wood, making good progress in a mere matter of minutes. As he did that, Miguel eased Phineas off the raft. The engineer did all he could to keep from crying out in pain. Miguel was doing his best to keep the man's mind occupied.

"When I get home, I'm gonna get to the nearest buffet I can," Miguel grinned as he gingerly lifted his friend onto a makeshift mat. He'd put it together swiftly to keep Phineas' leg from getting any more infections that it probably already did. To keep both of their minds off of it, he continued to rant. "Then I'm gonna call my brother. He's in his junior year of high school now. He wants to be a fisherman, though… I don't know how the idea got into his head…"

"Well," Phineas replied as he got situated next to the lump of wood that would eventually become fire. The pile of wood stood between him and the lake. "He's a relative of the quick-thinking Miguel Seta, survivor extraordinaire. I'm sure he picked up the idea from _somewhere_." Phineas grinned weakly. Though he found it fun to talk to the others about what was waiting from _them_ at home, his thoughts had constantly been plagued with the thought that his family and friends had thought him dead and moved on.

He worried about his parents—how they'd taken the news. Were they still in grief, or had they decided that Phineas wouldn't want them to grieve—which he wouldn't!—and tried to move on? He fretted for Candace, who still hadn't gotten over her urge to "bust" both him and Ferb. By now, it had been almost friendly tradition between the three siblings. How had she dealt with the loss of one of her brothers? And Ferb! How on earth was he coping with all of this? The "man of action" had always been with Phineas, and vice versa. Though the man was grown and they didn't hang around each other twenty four seven like they used to, they'd still been extremely close. How had he taken the loss of his brother? Phineas hoped he hadn't done anything drastic.

Then there was Isabella. Months before he'd actually proposed to her, he'd gone out and tried to choose a ring. It had been extremely difficult, and it had taken almost two whole months to find the perfect ring. He'd decided on something simple for a number of reasons that would take too long to go into at the moment. He'd chosen the diamond because—if you want to put it cheesily—she was the gem of his world. How her eyes lit up whenever she saw him, how her long raven hair was beautiful just the way it was, the way she looked when she got excited, the way she talked… everything about her had brightened up his day when he was around her. Now he wasn't sure if he'd ever see her again…

"…and that's why he doesn't want to be a neurologist." Miguel finished up as Eli handed him a finished wooden fishing pole. Phineas snapped out of his train of thought and pretended like he'd been listening. It seemed that a few hours had passed since Miguel had started talking, seeing as the sun was waning in the sky. However, Phineas quickly realized that Miguel didn't have a fishing _line_, so he reached into his nano transformer and withdrew some twine.

"Miguel!" Phineas called, gaining the man's attention as he was trying to place the raft back in the water. The twine was flung through the air and landed in Miguel's outstretched palms. Both men grinned.

"Yeah, might need this, huh?" the survivor laughed. Phineas laughed along with him. Eli cracked a smile and rolled his eyes.

"Yeah, you might," Phineas agreed. He turned his attention to Eli. "And I saw the sarcasm in that eye roll."

"Why wouldn't you?" Eli asked as he helped Miguel push the raft into the water. As soon as it was in, he placed a foot on top of the raft and withdrew a bent piece of metal. It was barely sharp enough to make a halfway decent hook. "We only need a few fish, don't try to go after the big ones. We don't need them yet."

"Like there are any big ones here to get," Miguel laughed as he snatched the hook from Eli's hand. Yanking the raft from under the pilot's foot, the survivor mounted aboard and used his hands to paddle away. When the man became little more than a speck on the lake he stopped and cast his line. Phineas had just finished the teepee of wood and had found some dry leaves that would make excellent fire starters. He stuffed them into the center of the teepee. Several hours went by in complete silence. After a few false starts—scratch that—several false starts, Phineas was finally able to manage a halfway decent flame.

"You're awfully quiet," Eli observed as he sat across Phineas. The engineer looked up, surprised that Eli would be the one to notice his behavior. It wasn't that he was _trying_ to be quiet, it was just that he had a lot of things on his mind. That was all.

"Just thinking about stuff," Phineas said truthfully, hoping his vagueness would be enough to get Eli off his back. Regrettably, it wasn't.

"On the way to the village you talked about anything and everything," Eli pointed out. Phineas soon found the leaves in the middle of the teepee extremely interesting. They burned in such a way that they didn't just burn. They twisted and shriveled under the heat of the fire, then decided to give into the flames. They stayed quiet for a few moments longer. "Is it your girl back home?" Eli finally asked, being none too gentle and completely blunt. By now, Phineas was used to this, even if he did find it a little annoying at times. He didn't look up.

"I don't think she's still my girl anymore…" Phineas finally murmured. Devoid of emotion, the single sentence didn't sound like the ten year old inventor that the red head once was. It sounded like an empty, sorrowful statement. The finality of it could almost break your heart. Eli offered no sympathy.

"She could move on, that's true," Eli stated. His voice held no emotion at this point, just simple fact. A few moments of heavy realistic silence passed between the two men. Eli was letting Phineas process this fact before continuing in a somewhat gentler voice. "But if she's moved on, are you willing to let her go?"

"What?" Phineas asked, blindsided by this question. He stayed looking at the ground, eyes frozen while his mind's gears worked at high speed. Let go of Isabella? After he'd spent so long with her? Never mind the fact that he'd only spent the vast majority of his life with her around, but he'd also _just_ asked her to marry him! Their lives together were supposed to be beginning! Now he was supposed to let her go before it all began!?

"If she's moved on, how do you think she'll react to find you back? She thinks you're dead! What if she's found someone else and is happy?" Eli asked, his hand subconsciously darting to his picture in his pocket. It was a real thing that happened to people. They moved on. Their lives continued even when they thought yours hadn't. His face showed the pain he felt when he'd first found out the love of his life had found happiness with some other man. Yet, he'd asked himself the same question back then as he was asking Phineas now. "Could you take away that happiness?"

Phineas' brain was working in overdrive. The answer was so simple, yet his mind didn't want to accept it. Eli was talking truth. If Isabella really thought he was dead, then what could stop her from moving on? From finding happiness like he'd wanted her to in the first place? He'd asked her to move on if he didn't come back. But now that the time had come, did he really want her to move on? Did he really want to be that boyfriend who'd gone to serve his country and not come home? Or did he want to be the man who'd gone missing for too long, come back, and shattered his girlfriend's life again? The thought of doing that to her hurt him. He never wanted to hurt Isabella. But what if he did just by coming home? Slowly, he looked the other man in the eyes.

"I—" Phineas' attention was stolen by a flash of movement behind Eli. It wasn't something huge, but it was big enough to distract the Flynn. Leaning to the side, the man tried to pinpoint exactly what it was that he'd seen. He scanned the lake's surface. All was natural and quite still. Except for that empty raft on the lake's surface.

Wait—WHAT!?

"Where's Miguel?" Phineas' voice was filled with curiosity, bordering on fear. The raft shook violently, as if something was happening nearby, but the fisher wasn't on board. From far away, the men could make out a hand shoot out of the water. Something was clasped in the man's hand. The hand grappled to stay on the raft, then pulled Miguel out of the water. Yet something was wrong. Very wrong.

"What happened to his leg?" Eli asked, his quiet voice filled with horror. Even from a distance, the two men could make out the mangled mess that was Miguel's leg. If the blood didn't give it away, the grotesque angle of it could have given you a clue. His leg wasn't just broken, it was halfway ripped off! And the man was loosing blood!

Looking around for _something_ useful, Phineas searched for a method to get out to Miguel, or to get him back to shore. He dug through his nano transformer and found several items, the most useful being rope. Quickly, the red headed man withdrew at least one hundred yards of rope and his parachute back from before. Checking the juice this thing still had, it had enough to fly over to Miguel. Not wasting a second, Phineas attached the rope to the back and chucked it in the air to get it going.

Wavering in the air for a fraction of a second, the lifeline zipped straight to Miguel out on the water. Now lying on his back on the raft, his feet dangerously dangling in the water, it seemed the man didn't have the strength to grab a hold of the bag for a moment. Then, in what seemed to be a last ditch effort, Miguel flopped his arm and managed to catch the bag under his arm. Without hesitation, Phineas began to pull on the rope. A split-second later, Eli joined his efforts.

As Miguel was pulled to shore, both of his feet continued to dangle in the water. While his untouched foot dangled in the water and floated along with as much resistance as the water gave it, his injured leg seemed not only to be partially submerged, but also meeting with more resistance. Something was pulling or being pulled on his leg. The injured fisher cried out in pain as he was pulled into the more shallow water. His leg began to jerk around unnaturally, and Miguel could not hold back the screams of pain.

Suddenly, a fearsome shriek escaped the man when he reached the truly shallow water. Both of the other men on shore could see a large mass darting away. The creature had to be almost seven foot long from what they could tell. But that wasn't the only thing to escape into the water.

"Oh God!" Eli gasped as he made his way to Miguel's side. The man's sweat mingled with the freshwater that he'd come out of. As well as his blood. Unable to see much of anything, or move quickly for that matter, Phineas strained to see as Eli reached inside the parachute bag for the remnants of the gauze. As the man finally found what he was looking for, he set the gauze between his shoulder and his cheek and ripped the bottom of the injured man's pant leg open. The amount of blood that spilled onto the brown sand was not a comforting sight. While Phineas turned his head to vomit, Eli began to tightly wrap Miguel's new leg stub. Miguel's foot hadn't been bitten off, but rather, torn off.

When he'd finished his sick spell, Phineas wrapped his own leg firmly and made his way to his friend. As soon as he made his way to Miguel's side, the man with all the survival tactics smiled grimly. "So much for…" Miguel was thrown into a fit of coughing, which triggered immense pain. A few yells later, he managed in a hoarse voice, "survivor extraordinaire."

"You're still the survivor of the group," Phineas said as he began to hand more gauze to Eli to wrap around Miguel's new stub. But it seemed that the more it was wrapped, the more the injury bled. It was frightening, and they didn't have the proper equipment to deal with the excessive loss of blood. Despite the signs, Phineas refused to cave to reality. Not this time. This time, "impossible" was something he wanted to attempt once again.

With as much nerve as he could muster, Phineas made his way next to his friend. After three minutes of pain, he finally made it. Miguel was clutching something in his hand while his face drained of color. Reaching into his nano transformer, the engineer pulled out some more gauze. They were reserves in case they were needed. He handed them over to Eli, who had run out of gauze. Nodding in gratitude, Eli continued to wrap the ever-bleeding stump. The flow had barely slowed, but was still going.

With every minute, Miguel was slipping away. Eli kept wrapping the stump and applying pressure. Phineas kept Miguel talking. Talking about his brother. Talking about his parents. Talking about the food he was going to eat when he got home. Talking about anything. Just as long as he was talking. After about forty five minutes, Miguel's hand began to shift. Phineas barely noticed. What he had noticed was that Miguel had stopped talking for a moment.

"Miguel, how old is your brother?" Phineas asked, knowing that the man loved to rant about how obnoxious his little brother was, but how he loved the little snot anyways. Though the Flynn had heard it before, he wanted Miguel to say it again. But Miguel didn't respond. He simply moved his hand more noticeably. This time, Phineas saw and placed his hand under Miguel's. He placed something in the head's hand.

"Caleb… make sure he gets it…" Miguel's voice began to diminish, all life ebbing away from it. Phineas wanted to yell. To tell Miguel that he'd be able to give it to his little brother himself. That he shouldn't talk like he'd given up. But by the time Miguel had pressed the gift in his friend's hand, his life had extinguished.

Miguel Seta had died. No one could stop the tears that flowed.

* * *

Phineas set another rock on top of the body. Eli set another one on the other side. Neither talked. Nothing needed to be said. Five had survived the plane crash. Only two were still alive at this point. Neither had taken charge, both were grieving. Any word to describe the hurt felt too shallow once more.

Phineas grabbed a nearby rock and began to chip at it with his pocket knife. The only sound heard around the lake for a while was the sound of metal hitting rock. For an hour or two, that was the only thing that was happening. Eli occasionally stirred the fire to life when it got too low, but other than that, nothing happened.

After two hours, Phineas reached over and placed the marker at the head of the mound of rocks that covered their friend.

_Miguel Seta_

For another half an hour, Phineas sat there, not doing anything. He thought about his entire team, now gone because of an airplane malfunction. Alex had a family back home that was waiting for a man who'd never come home. Miguel had a little brother who would never see him again. Even Brandon had had a quartet to return to. He didn't talk about it much, but it was almost expected every time he had talked. Now they were all gone, and they could never return to the lives that had waited for them back home.

The scent of cooked fish wafted through Phineas' nose and he was jerked out of his thoughts. He looked over to Eli to see that he was cooking the fish that Miguel had caught just hours before. Yet an appetite was something that eluded the man. He turned to the mound and clenched his fist. His fingers met with resistance that was most certainly _not_ his hand.

Opening his fingers, Phineas stared in the object that Miguel had insisted on giving to his brother. It was a small amount of twine, laced through five of the hard scales of the fish. Miguel must have pried them off to make this. And used the small screwdriver appliance on his pocket knife to make a decent hole to fit the twine through. When moved, the scales tapped together gently, clinking softly.

"_He wants to be a fisherman, though… I don't know how the idea got into his head…"_ Miguel's words rang through Phineas' head as he looked at the small necklace. So many feelings washed through the man at once. Small bits of humor shot through him that Miguel would make a necklace for his brother for a job he couldn't fathom having. Responsibility to deliver the necklace to Miguel's brother, and the dog tags to the remaining families. Sorrow at the loss of another good man. Anger and frustration for not having done anything useful to get his men back home. A sense of uselessness fell upon the Flynn, and he wondered why on Earth he was even here.

"You have to keep your strength up," Eli said as he handed the engineer a fish on a stick. It had been cooked almost to the point of burning, but at least that meant the meat wouldn't be infected. Phineas took the stick, but did nothing with it. Simply held it. Eli looked out onto the lake. "There have been times where I've seen good men die and lived to tell the tale," Eli began.

Phineas, unsure of where this was going, did nothing. He simply sat and listened to the experienced pilot. After all, the man had a knack for saying smart things, even if they did sting.

"I've had to tell wives their husbands aren't coming home, mothers that their sons are gone, heck, I've had to tell children that their mothers weren't coming back," Eli said, his voice not quite as emotionless as usual. Pangs of sadness overwhelmed the man's voice, and both men knew that he was crying. "But that's why we have to survive. To tell those people what happened."

"Wouldn't it be better if—" Phineas started a statement, but let it drift away. He couldn't rationalize it, even to himself.

"If what?" Eli asked, picking up where Phineas had left off. "If they never knew? If they go on every day _hoping_ that their family or friend is going to come home safely, even though they're gone?" Eli's question hit Phineas broadside, and he couldn't respond. "It hurts to tell them, and the look on their faces had made me want to quit more than once, but they need to know."

"Why?" Phineas asked, looking at Miguel's grave once more. If it caused people to hurt, then why should they hurt? All the red head ever wanted was to make people happy. If living was only going to hurt people, then why?

"Because it starts the healing," Eli said softly. "Telling them and giving them the proof is giving them reality. It frees them to move on. A lot of people choose not to forget, but they do move on."

Phineas sat there for a moment. He looked at Eli. "So, who told her that you were dead?" Phineas asked. Eli stopped for a moment and pulled out the picture. He looked at it for a solid five minutes before answering.

"No one," Eli finally said. He tucked the picture away. "But she moved on anyways. And I'm happy for that. It's better if she moved on."

That ended the conversation and both men looked skyward. Phineas took a little nibble of the fish. If nothing else, he would live to tell about how great his crew had been, and give the dog tags and necklaces to their families and friends.

_**14AmyChan: Okay! LOOOOONG chapter done. *^_^***_

_**Phineas: You are so cruel!**_

_**14AmyChan: Yeah… But it's only a couple more chapters. *^_^***_

_**Eli: please read and review**_

_**Jeremy Wade: By the way, the fish used in this story is an Alligator Gar. Amy used the ledgends and myths about this fish because they were cool. To find the facts about Alligator Gar, go to http_:_/_/_animal_._discovery_._com_/_tv_-_shows_/_river_-_monsters**_

_**14AmyChan: yeah, they're actually really cool fish! *^_^***_

_**Jeremy Wade: I find them to be giant pussy cats.**_

_**14AmyChan: well, that's all for now~! See ya next chapter~! *^_^***_


	9. Won't Be Forgotten

_**14AmyChan: So, I know this story has been really sad—**_

_**Eli: You think?!**_

_**Phineas: well, she said so, so—**_

_**Eli: *facepalm***_

_**14AmyChan: ANYWAYS! I know this story's been super sad, and I'm not used to writing like this, so it's going to wrap up probably in this chapter or the next**_

_**Phineas: We get to go home?**_

_**14AmyChan: Now that I think about it, it'll be a bit…**_

_**Phineas and Eli: WHAT?!**_

Phineas and Eli stared up into the sky. There were no words. No hopeful chatter. No reminiscences of home. No exchanges about the brave men they'd lost on their trek for home. No speculations as to what awaited them when they got to the plane. No voice for the doubts if the plane would come.

It had been sixteen hours since they'd arrived at the lake, and there was still no sign of any plane. Eli shifted to throw some more kindling on the weak fire. They were saving the major smokers for the plane, when it decided to come. There was no doubt in his mind that the plane _would_ come.

Phineas simply stared into the endless sky. The same sky that beckoned him as a boy to do the impossible. The same sky he and his friends had soared past on more than one occasion. Now, something in that same sky held his and Eli's only chance of getting home. The man hadn't voiced it, or even wanted to think about his battered, shattered, and broken leg, yet now he could not deny that the pain was intensifying with every day. Every passing moment the agony intensified. It was almost expected that it were to get infected now, after so long being exposed to the harshness of their journey. The pain had begun to penetrate his consciousness as it had his subconscious for the past couple of weeks now. For the past week, he'd had to make a conscious effort not to cry out. Even now, he strained to keep the penetrating silence.

The time continued to wear on. Silence deafened the men's ears. The water lay in front of them, mocking them. The rocks to their side were taboo to look at. Phineas clenched the tags and necklace in his hand. If nothing else, he would tell them what happened, so they wouldn't live their lives not knowing. He wondered vaguely if he'd even go back home. His heart ached at the thought of not returning to the place he thought he'd always belong. To his family, to his friends, to his pet, to Isabella. Every time he thought of her now, his heart wrestled with itself. While part of his heart yearned to see her once again in the flesh, there was a part that was hesitant. What if she'd found happiness? What if she'd moved on, just like he'd asked her to? What if… what if… she didn't want to see him anymore…?

A dull throb reached Phineas' ears, pulling him out of his thoughts. His triangular head jerked up and swiveled around, attempting to pinpoint the direction from which the sound was coming from. As he finally found the direction from which the sound was coming, Eli began to throw in peculiar leaves. Once they touched the flames, they grew substantially. The fire snapped and twisted this way and that quite violently. The smoke that it produced smelled rancid, and flared out with such a speed that even if Phineas had the ability to move at normal speed, even he could not have avoided the wall of smoke.

But he didn't care about the lung fulls of smoke that came. He didn't notice the way his eyes stung in the face of the dry heat. Even the sudden flare of pain that shot up his leg seemed to escape his notice for a while. He helped Eli by throwing as many of the leaves as he could find with his free hand. The fire expanded, and the smoke billowed to the mercy of the thankfully calm air.

In the light, you could see it, though it wasn't meant to be seen. It was a plane made to camouflage with the night's sky. The darkness almost covered it, except for small pinpricks of red light, set on the edges of the wings. It glided through the air seemingly effortlessly. The smoke reached the height of the plane.

And the plane began to swerve away. Away from the smoke. Away from them. Their rescue was swerving away. Phineas lost all feeling, except for a low drumming in his ears. For a long while, or only a few seconds, he felt nothing but the icy cold of despair. It began to claw at him from the inside out. His hands moved on their own to add more fuel to the fire. The smoke reached out to flag the plane as it evaded the light. It swerved sharply to the right and disappeared from view.

The plane was gone.

Eli hit his knees, a smile zapped of all energy on his face. A hollow laugh escaped his throat. He'd been _so sure_ that they would be rescued. So _sure_. Phineas could sympathize. He held a tight grip on the tags and necklace and brought them to his chest. He sat like that for who knows how long, allowing the pain to eat away the numbness, but relinquishing no control over his vocal cords. He stayed silent as the pain flooded through him. Silent as his vision began to blur and tunnel.

Yet the silence had a comfort to it. Phineas heard what he wanted to. He thought he heard a platoon of American soldiers surround the area. He thought he heard Eli talking to someone, and someone talking to Eli. He thought he heard a familiar voice talking to him, but he didn't want Eli to think he was crazy, do he didn't respond to it. He thought he heard this familiar voice asking him if he were okay. Cry out in shock at the state of his leg. He thought he heard someone call for a stretcher.

As Phineas blacked out, he thought it now the best time to respond to the voice. "Ferb," he croaked with a smile. "I missed you, bro…"

"I missed you too, Phin," the green haired Britt smiled with wet eyes as he ran alongside the stretcher he'd called for Phineas. The red head finally passed out when he was boarded onto the airplane.

* * *

**Day 26**

"His leg should be in critical condition!" a voice penetrated the darkness. It was unfamiliar, so Phineas chose to ignore it for now. He was sure he was hallucinating or something. He'd done so before he'd passed out. He felt like he was laying down on a bed, but he didn't feel pain. There had to be something wrong with his brain at this point. "How did you repair it with such speed to such an extent?"

Silence was soon followed by some murmurs. Though Phineas heard most of them express awe, other—smaller—voices expressed something akin to jealousy. A creaking to his right set all of the voices into silence.

"I would like to be alone with him for now, as a visitor," a voice said quietly. The red headed man recognized that voice. He struggled to find his own. Yet he could not talk before the door opened and many pairs of shoes scuffle across a floor and away from where he lay. The door clicked shut and the familiar voice heaved a sigh.

"Phin… when are you going to wake up?" the voice mused aloud. Phineas searched for his voice, but couldn't find it. _Ferb! _he wanted to shout. He wanted to give some indication to his brother, but he could not move. He could not talk. His body wasn't ready. His brother chuckled softly.

"It's been a while since your service… We all thought you were dead… Candace started a small music business with Jeremy. They plan to be closed every Veteran's Day. Mum and Father are still trying to move on, last I checked in with them. They weren't too pleased with my joining the military hospital wing. I managed to convince them I'd do much better helping others than hiding in some college dorm. They still expect a letter every week from me.

"I still haven't told them we've found you. You and your friend, that is. He's already told me about everything. From the plane crash to when we touched down to pick you lads up. It's rather fascinating to hear it from him, but I still want to hear it from you… Phineas Flynn, when are you going to wake up?"

"I…am," Phineas finally managed to force the words out. A sudden clatter to his side sent a billion pictures flying through his head. The funniest probability was that the Brit had fallen out of his chair. With some extra effort, the red head opened his eyes. He scanned around for his brother, but couldn't see the familiar green head. He was about to admit to insanity when the green popped in Phineas' peripheral vision. When he saw his brother, Phineas Flynn smiled for a second. Then he asked an important question that weighed heavily on his mind. "Am…Am I dead?"

"Not bloody likely!" Ferb grinned widely as he messed with Phineas' hair. The red head winced from the contact, but got over it as soon as it had bothered him. He reached up a hand to swat his brother's away, but he found that he couldn't. Looking over, he saw his arm hooked up to an IV. _Why didn't I notice that before?_ Phineas questioned mentally. Ferb followed his line of sight to the needle. The fully grown man shuddered. "I still don't like those things…" he muttered.

Phineas lost it. He could help but laugh at his brother's phobia of needles. As he continued to laugh at the hilarity of it all, Ferb regained his seat. He smiled as he watched his brother. Even after ten days, it was hard to believe that he was still _alive_. When the laughter subsided, Ferb mussed up his brother's hair again, just to assure himself his brother was there. Alive and on his way to recovery.

"Ferb…" Phineas said after a few moments of silence. On his face was a small frown. Ferb sat, listening intently. "You… didn't say anything about Isabella…" He was referring to what he'd heard before. He was glad his family was doing okay. He was happy for his sister and was already planning to visit his parents as soon as he was out of this hospital. But Ferb hadn't said one thing about Isabella.

"She doesn't do much anymore," Ferb said after a few moments of silent meditation on what he should say. In truth, he hadn't seen her since the… service… for Phineas. And she'd cried so much on that day. She… "I don't see a lot of her anymore, but she hasn't left the house be. She takes care of it." Ferb had hoped the news would have perked his brother up, but it didn't.

"That's good," Phineas said, attempting to be optimistic. If she hadn't let the house go to shambles, then maybe she… Well, perhaps she… But Ferb had said he hadn't seen a lot of her… What if she… "How long before I can walk?" Phineas decided to ask. He looked hopefully up at his brother.

"There was a pretty nasty infection," Ferb began. "We had to treat that before we could re-set the leg—to be quite honest, I'm glad you were out for that bit. You should be up in a few days, and you'll need a crutch for a bit. If you're going to see Isabella—"

"Not yet…" Phineas intervened quietly. Ferb's eyes widened in surprise. "I have something to do first…"

"Ah, does it have to do with Brandon, Alex, and Miguel?" Ferb asked quietly. Phineas quickly looked at his brother in surprise. "The pilot was afraid you weren't going to wake up, so he took the tags to their families. He also told me about everything that happened…" Ferb eyed his brother. He seemed to be taking the news well. So he pressed on. "He told me to tell you that you would be an idiot not to at least see her again."

Phineas felt as if those words had punched him right in the gut. He said nothing for a few moments, then smiled weakly. "Well, before I go and see her, I'm going to make sure Alex and Brandon are off the MIA list…"

"I want to make sure they aren't forgotten…"

* * *

**Feb 13**

Phineas walked alongside two men he'd never met before into Danville's memorial for veterans. He did his best to walk in step as he was supposed to, but the crutch on his left side made it difficult. He looked around at all the people who were there. There were only a few, and he didn't know any of them. He faced forward.

Scratch that, he didn't know _most_ of them.

Standing in front of the MIA wall was someone he thought he'd never see again. Eyes shut and hands pressed close to her face, the girl of his dreams didn't even seem to register that there were other people nearby. Phineas' eyes darted to her left hand.

It was bare.

Did that mean she'd moved on? Was she here to say her last good-byes? Was Eli right? Would it have been better to stay out of her life?

"Are these the men, sir?" one of the men asked. Phineas tore his eyes off of Isabella to quickly glance at the names. _Alexander J. Raid_ and _Miguel T. Seta_ were only a few names to the right of his own. Confirming the names with a nod, he returned his gaze to Isabella, who had finally opened her eyes. Yet she didn't see him, he was behind her.

"What are you doing?" Isabella asked, though it was more of a whisper. Phineas hadn't expected for her to go on the defense so fast. Her eyes practically drilled a hole into the poor worker, but he didn't seem to mind.

"We're moving this name, ma'am" the man who'd confirmed with Phineas replied. He turned back to the names. It was then that Phineas realized his own name was being moved as well. He would have mentally face palmed at not realizing that were he not so focused on Isabella's answer.

"Where are you placing his name?" Isabella returned. On the outside, she was formal, but Phineas could tell that she was straining himself. The worker was just about to tell her it wasn't her concern, but then he saw Phineas, just standing behind her, staring. His hope must have shown on his face—he was never good with hiding things—so the worker changed tactics.

"Are you family?" he asked, sending both Phineas and Isabella for a loop. Phineas waited—not too patiently—for her answer. He was anxious. What if she said she _was_ going to marry him? What if she said he was just a good friend? What if she said she—

Isabella made a movement that surprised him. She took a long hard look at the palm of her hand before slipping something on her left ring finger. Showing the ring to the worker, she announced "I'm his fiancé".

Am. She _is_. Isabella hadn't given up on him, though everyone else had presumed him dead. He didn't hear what the other worker had said, his head was spinning.

"You _did_ wait…" Phineas breathed out the first thing he'd said since he entered the building. Isabella froze, and he nearly went into another panic attack. But soon enough, she turned to face him.

Isabella still had those sparkling blue eyes, though they seemed a bit dimmer than Christmas. Her raven black hair still framed her face beautifully. Though paler than he remembered, she still radiated with beauty. It was his Isabella. And she'd waited for him.

As if in a dream like state, she slowly reached up to him. Twice, it looked like she were going to back out, but her hand eventually made its way to his face. With his free hand, he met hers over his cheek. She was there. She'd waited.

"Your hands are colder than I remember…" he laughed softly, as if that were the most intelligent thing to say to your fiancé, who'd thought you were dead for a good couple of months. Yet apparently, it was.

Before he could react, Isabella engulfed him in a sturdy hug. It almost caused him to fall over, but he soon stabilized himself and returned the gesture. He had to assure himself that she was still here. That she'd waited for him.

"I missed you…" she whispered into his chest. Those few words sent his world straight. She had waited and missed him. She hadn't given up the hope that he'd come home. He moved his head atop hers to speak more clearly.

"I missed you, too…" he murmured. He moved his head up, and she looked up into his eyes. Those eyes he'd missed since the day that airplane had taken him to serve. They'd gained some of their shine back. He didn't see anyone else except her. Time seemed to move slowly for the couple. They leaned in closer and closer…

As they kissed, his world fell into place. He had his family, he had his brother, he had his best friend turned girlfriend turned fiancé here with him. He felt complete.

They would have continued, but there is this wonderful thing that we need to survive that loves to break up good kisses. As they drew apart to breathe, Phineas noted that the color had flooded back into Isabella's face, and a smile had taken the place of her worried expression. That smile, however, faltered for a second.

"Does this mean we get to stay together forever?" she asked. He could tell in the way she held him and the way she looked at him that she definitely didn't want him to go again. It was the same look she'd unknowingly given when he'd left, yet intensified.

"Do you still want to?" he returned, feeling the need to give her the option to live life without him. Though it killed him to ask, and he prayed she'd say yes, he attempted to mentally prepare himself for a "no". He told himself he'd get over it if that were the case. He'd get over… _Please say yes…_ Phineas wished. He didn't even realize he was rubbing her back.

"Yes," Isabella's voice came out as a breath, yet the word had found its way into his anticipating ears. That word was the most joyful thing he'd heard in three months. His eyes searched hers, and he could tell the love that emanated from them. Love, joy, happiness, anticipation; all of these emotions and more. The look on her face told him something that he'd been waiting for so long to hear.

He had his life back. And the love of his life still wanted to spend it with him.

"Then yes, yes we can" Phineas answered her question properly. He watched as the news sunk in for her. Her expression, which had been tense in anticipation, melted into simple joy. That expression caused his heart to flutter. He smiled to his fiancé as he drew her into another kiss. Isabella couldn't have been happier at that moment. Her Phineas was back home. Safe. And even better, the love of her life still wanted to be a part of it. He still wanted to be with her.

The two felt such a joy that words would have done them a severe injustice.

_**14AmyChan: okay, so I totally used the ending from "And Now to the Weather" here, but whatever!**_

_**Phineas: So… what happened to Eli?**_

_**14AmyChan: he went back into the air force, but not before sending a letter to that girl and telling her congratulations on her marriage and kids. Then she set up a day for coffee, they talked and caught up, and he met one of her kids. Then he went back into the airforce with a renewed sense of something to fight for.**_

_**Phineas: so… happy ending?**_

_**14AmyChan: Happy Ending for Eli and you. As for the other guys, the reason I put them in here was because there are people who die in the military every day keeping us safe. While these guys died in an unorthodox fashion, I'm really proud of my country, and that was my somewhat ridiculous attempt at a salute to our troops.**_

_**Phineas: huh… Well, I'm just glad to be home.**_

_**14AmyChan: I am too. *^_^* Please Read and Review~! *^_^***_

_**Isabella: see you next story! *to 14AmyChan* next time, don't torture us like that!**_

_**14AmyChan: there are no guarentees. *^_^***_

_**Phineas and Isabella: WHAT?!**_

_**Ferb: Please read and review.**_


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